If you ever played Baldurs Gate, Baldurs Gate 2, Knights of the Old Republic, Jade Empire, Never Winter Nights or Mass Effect..and Enjoyed it, Now is the time to show it! (You must register for their forums to vote, it only takes a minute)


PS: You should also vote if you're looking forward to Dragon Age or our upcoming Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic MMO!


We're currently neck and neck with MMO developer, Turbine!

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/tournament/great8

Please take a minute to cast your vote ;)

It feels like forever since I posted anything here... Facebook has all but taken over my digital community quota and between the amount of time I spend online at school and work I'm pressed to find anything reasonably sane to actually blog about.

That being said, I know some of you haven't made the move to Facebook and never will so for your benefit I'll update you on what I've been up to and try to check in at least once a week ;)

In August 2007 I moved to Edmonton, driving west from Toronto for four straight days. Upon arrival here I scouted around and ended up falling (literally) into a grad program and the University of Alberta. I'm presently enrolled in a Master of Arts in English & Humanities Computing, one of two years completed.

A few months before Christmas I managed to score a job at Indigo books (there's only one in the city) and loved it... I really loved working there, loved my co-workers the works. The pay was a little spartan, it's hard to work almost full time hours and do a full course-load just to make ends meet but that all changed recently. I started work on a new novel in January and I'm pleased to report that it's a good 40ish pages done -- I'm going to be trying to complete this in tandem with writing my thesis AND working full time however.

Fast forward to May, 2008 - I was offered a job at BioWare, a contract term position and went through the interviewing process with great success; better still they asked if I'd come back for a second round of interviews for a full-time position instead. Some more sweating time passed and the next thing you know I'm the latest full time employee of BioWare working on a project that's of great interest to me ;)

Nine months ago I jokingly remarked to someone, "What do you do with a BA in English and 25 years experience in gaming? You work for BioWare!" today I'm amused at the irony.

Current Location: Edmonton
Currently feeling : bouncy

So it looks like I was accidentally enabled to see a post made, about me, that I was supposed to have been filtered away from -- since I can no longer see it. I'm not going to "sit tight" and have emotionally crippled idiots cackling away behind my back like MacBeth's witches. So I'm dealing with this now, because I'm tired of being berated and bad mouthed by small minded bitches. To those people who have the capacity to be firefaes "friend" without turning it into a witch hunt for things I've allegedly done, I thank you for being there for her. To the rest of you, regardless of what I might have said to you recently, in messages or emails, this is your invitation to fuck right off.

When I fuck up I deal with the consequences, plain and simple. I might deal with them in a passive aggressive manner, or I might deal with them in a head-on fashion, but I deal with them.



--

1) For the record I never implied or intended to abandon my cats, where I go they go.

2) Would all those who I've been "bragging too recently" please come forward and be counted? Because I sure as hell don't remember talking to you.

3) I've spent the last several years quietly accepting scorn, putting up with insults and accepting antipathy just to save face and protect other people's image, honour and reputation. This latest witch hunt, to the tune of what a horrible person etrigan is is my breaking point.

I thought I'd been pretty empathic on Thursday evening, I thought I was pretty straight forward and honest about the problems that have ruined my relationship -- problems that I've spent the last 3 years trying to fix over and over again. Sure, I've contributed my share of problems, I acknowledge that, and strangely you people have no idea of what I've put up with, why? Because I have more respect for my partner than that. So while I'm the subject of private posts, scornful bashing and malicious plotting at least I have my self respect.

One more lie surfaces that I'm the subject of and I'll flip this little charade on its ear.

Currently feeling : angry

I don't miss highschool. I don't miss histrionic melodrama, internet social program soap operas (which I'm thankfully too old for anyway) or loathe-some, two-faced single-serving friends who really only pretend to like you because they're socially climbing, or feel obligated to due to some misguided principle of loyalty towards your significant other/brother/sister/clique. I've discovered that I know, bluntly, a lot of cowards, very small people and most importantly, people I can happily live without in my life. I'm always "impressed" by people who, because they knew me at one point in my life, assume that I'm exactly the same person I am now, as I was then.

I've never had the capacity to turn love into hatred, and I'm certainly not about start now.

As most of you know, firefae and I broke up early May 2007, some of you are probably nodding or shaking respective heads. Some of you are probably elated by this, I doubt many are upset. Our inevitable break-up has been along time coming, steadily fueled by attempts at forced compatibility as something more than friends, bitter outsiders who think they know better, and "so-called friends" feeding serious problems. I'm not going to turn this into an attack, but I'm done pretending to be nice, or friends with many, many people. If you're *remotely* interested in hearing my side of things you're welcome to ask. If I think it's any of your business, which if you're my friend, it is, then I'll tell you.

I honestly couldn't be happier at the moment, and for the first time in along time I'm feeling things that I shouldn't ever have not been feeling. I imagine, ironically, my ex feels largely the same way.

Currently feeling : productive

Those of you who've been with me a long time know, likely, my feelings on moving. Yet, here I go again... this time, however, it's for a more practical reason than "You're being evicted". I need to move to Edmonton for a couple of years, ideally somewhere near the University of Alberta. The problem is I know *nothing* about Edmonton... I'm the kind of person who usually visits a prospective place at least once before agreeing to *live* there. Anyone here have any experience with Edmonton at all?

This individual is wanted in conjunction with the sexual assault(s) and gun-point attacks that have been occuring at Sentinel road and Murry ross, the south end of York University Campus.



Suspect description from Toronto Police Service

Male, Black, 25 to 35 yrs, 6'00", Medium Build, Bald or Shaved Head, Red Shirt, Black Ballcap.

Suspect is ARMED with a silver handgun

Anyone who has information on the identity of the suspect or anyone who information on any of the attacks (this particular suspect is being investigated in relation to an attack on Sat. Nov 18th, and Mon. Nov 27th) is asked to contact Detective Sansom of the Toronto Police Services Sex Crimes Unit at 416-808-7462, or the Toronto Police Services Sex Crimes unit main number at 416-808-7474

It's been forever since I logged in, or so it feels. I've been doing, pretty much, nothing but writing and gaming -- in that order, usually, and spending time with actual people the rest of the time. My alcohol intake is at a fairly stable to low level, I'm just not around people that drink much and drinking alone is what boring, lonely, depressed people do; I don't qualify.

Grad school applications are underway, I'm looking at some pretty hefty programs, MIT, Stanford, Toronto, Western, McMaster and York are all getting some of my money and copies of my transcripts (though why I have to send York my transcripts is beyond me, and annoying to boot). I'm also in the midst of trying to meet a publication deadline for a bookdeal, in negotiations to start writing a comic book for an independent publisher, and getting academically published before I finish my undergrad. On top of that I'm writing for one of the campus newspapers, you can find articles by me from now on in The Flying Walrus (submit to the Walrus!)

Lastly, stroll by my facebook profile, I could use a few more contacts.

I thought you might like to take a closer look at your menu, therefore I humbly present to you the U.S Food and Drug Administration's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition centre's "Food Detect Action Level" chart, displaying for you the "Levels of natural or unavoidable defects in foods that present no health hazards for humans"


For example, every 5 cups of Orange juice you consume, you're ingesting up to:

- 24 fly eggs
- 5 maggots


Tasty goodness.

Zug has a little webcode thingy here that will calculate some of them for you ;)

I truly believe that comedy, and art, are two key elements in globalization -- an entire side of our brain is devoted to it, afterall. Despite differing cultures, languages or religions, we all laugh, we all cry, we all sing and we all create art of one form or another. As unifying aspects of humanity go, after sex, it's probably the biggest. The society that forgets and abandons its artists gives up half of itself.

It's a widely accepted truth that the only people whose voices are heard are the loudest. But that doesn't mean they're the only opinions, only the most declared ones. I'm hoping that somewhere on the other-side of the world there are people who think and feel the way I do, and who are passionate, trusting and determined enough to act on those thoughts and feelings.